Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with methods and compositions used for the molecular discrimination of Salmonella serotypes. Salmonella is a genus of bacteria that may cause severe infections leading to bacterial enteric illness in both humans and animals, e.g., salmonellosis, which include gastro-enteritis, as well as typhoid and para-typhoid fevers. Millions of human cases are reported every year, and the diseases result in thousands of deaths worldwide. In recent years, problems related to Salmonella have increased significantly, both in terms of incidence and severity of cases of human salmonellosis.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,268,984, entitled, “Detection of Salmonella by Real-Time Multiplex PCR,” discloses the detection of Salmonella by nucleic acid amplification and provides primer and probe oligonucleotides that can be used in multiplex to detect Salmonella in real-time amplification. The oligonucleotides of the invention detect all group I serotypes, and have an increased Salmonella detection range and cover seven Salmonella groups.